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1-26 of 26
- Teen-aged Leonardo Da Vinci is an apprentice to the painter Andrea Del Verrochio and his friends include the super-clever Macchiavelli and Lorenzo, son of scheming Piero De Medici. Leonardo is impressed by the work of Tomasso, a pavement artist and persuades Verrochio to take him on as another student, which he does. When Tom is caught trying to take Leonardo's notebook, the boys are in for a surprise. Tom is a girl called Lisa, in disguise, in order to be allowed to paint.
- Aware of Leonardo's budding genius Piero steals his notebook but finds it impossible to understand because all the information for his designs are written in code. He brings in Maths professor Pico to decipher it but even he is foiled as Leonardo,at great risk to himself,eventually retrieves his notebook.
- Leonardo has perfected a pair of giant wings, enabling him to fly but Macchiavelli has fallen foul of fat, sleazy thief Rizzo, who threatens him with prison unless he can have the wings for himself. Eventually the wings end up with Piero, who forces Rizzo to test them. But will they take the weight of a man twice as heavy as Leonardo?
- Leonardo and Tom are commissioned to paint a portrait of young bride-to-be Petronella,who is marrying thuggish,dishonest money lender Lucio solely to free her father from being in his debt. Macchiavelli recognizes Lucio as a man who hurt him when he was a child and,with the artists' help,concocts a plan playing to Lucio's greed by making him pay 100,000 florins for what they have told him is the alchemist's stone,to turn lead into gold. Having parted him from his money they then literally frame him for stealing a painting,freeing Petronella - who guesses 'Tom's' secret but says nothing.
- Lorenzo's spoilt cousin Valentina arrives and Leonardo is smitten by her. She also falls for him but then transfers her affections to Tom,unaware that 'he' is Lisa in disguise as girls are not allowed to be art students. When Valentina discovers the truth she sets out to expose Lisa. Fortunately Leonardo's latest invention, a bicycle powered by explosives,is able to head her off before she can tell any tales.
- Piero has acquired a 'lightning box',which gives out electric charges and which he plans to exhibit. A curious Leonardo 'borrows' it to study but a devious associate of Machiavelli,Carlo,steals it after giving Machiavelli a hard luck story. Leonardo makes a replica as a temporary replacement,almost getting caught putting it in place, but when Machiavelli learns that Carlo has duped him he helps retrieve the real lightning box before Piero detects any difference.
- After a Swiss clock-maker bringing a pocket watch to Piero drowns Leonardo finds the watch and discovers that it is magic and that it runs backwards,enabling the user to travel back in time. Machiavelli makes a copy which he tries to auction and this comes in useful when a gang of heavies pursue Leonardo for the real thing,which he is able to return to its maker's mother so that she can see her son again.
- Lorenzo's uncle,the duke,sets a competition to find Florence's finest painter and cocky Michelangelo taunts Leonardo that he cannot beat him so Machiavelli enlists Lorenzo's help in tricking Michelangelo into painting the duke's least preferred topic,angels and cherubs. Leonardo,however,is annoyed that he is expected to collude in cheating and deliberately erases the smile from the teen-aged version of La Gioconda which he painted using Lisa as his model,thus allowing her, as 'Tomaszo' to win.
- Piero hosts a party for the celebrated charioteer Giovanni Salvatore which is gate-crashed by Lisa and Leonardo,posing as staff,and Machiavelli,passing himself off as Count Lampedusa. Piero sees through his disguise and has him imprisoned but Leonardo saves him thanks to a couple of his recent inventions. However the false count has persuaded Giovanni to give up his sport to undertake charity work - not a popular decision among his Florentine fan base.
- After Piero has coerced 'Tom' into stealing Leonardo's notebook Leonardo and Machiavelli set out to recover it, planting a copy with blank pages. Meanwhile Lorenzo is temporarily held to ransom by Belladonna, the Bandit Queen of Florence, and Lisa, who has followed Leonardo, seized by Piero as an accomplice. Though the boys succeed in retrieving Lisa and the book, as well as seeing off Belladonna, they are aware that Piero now knows that Verrochio is illegally employing a girl as a painter - but unaware that he has made a copy of the notebook.
- Piero summons Leonardo to his palace and suggests that,as both are 'men of vision',they should work together to produce one of the inventions in Leonardo's notebook. It is a toy but Machiavelli is led to believe that it is a bomb,with which Piero intends to kill the duke of Florence at his birthday party. Leonardo humiliates himself when the invention turns out to be the harmless toy and not the bomb about which he warns the duke. Piero has,of course,kept the real bomb for himself.
- A robot,designed by Leonardo but recreated by Piero as a fire-breathing demon,is on the loose in Florence until Piero,who has orchestrated its retreat, is declared a hero and asked to take over power from the duke. At last Leonardo appreciates that this is the culmination of Piero's theft of his note-book as a means to rule Florence. Accordingly he makes sure that during the 'demon's' next outing Piero is discredited and the duke reinstated. This however alienates him from dim Lorenzo,who cannot see his father's villainy.
- Lisa's mother arrives in Florence to find her daughter and take her home for an arranged marriage, unaware of her new identity and profession. In order to put her mother off,Lisa tells her that she is already married and presents Machiavelli in a charade where they play at being husband and wife. Mother is not fooled for one moment but will her appreciation of Lisa's burning desire to be an artist be enough to let her stay and continue her work?
- Piero De Medici swears revenge on Leonardo and his set for his humiliation. He takes advantage of a feud between Verrocchio and Costa, a dissatisfied client who refused to pay for his portrait and has Costa killed,framing Verrocchio,who is arrested and sentenced to death. Leonardo attempts to spring him from prison,using the art of illusion,but they are caught and both now imprisoned. Though Leonardo's lawyer father speaks up for him it is Lorenzo who convinces De Medici to set the pair free. However De Medici confides in a friend that this latter action was a ploy to make Leonardo trust him. Leonardo is not so sure and still feels unwilling to resume his friendship with Lorenzo.
- De Medici throws a lavish masked ball for Lorenzo,though Lorenzo is perturbed to discover that it is to celebrate his betrothal to arrogant Angelica Visconti - who is wearing an identical dress and mask to Lisa. When Lisa,in mistake for Angelica,and Lorenzo are abducted Lorenzo's singing allows Leonardo to locate and rescue them. However all of them are unaware that Lorenzo's father engineered the abduction to cause trouble with the rival dukedom of Milan.
- Whilst his parents are away arranging his marriage, a bored Lorenzo falls in with the older Bruno Cafarelli, whom he finds refreshingly fun-loving and ignores Macchiavelli's warning that he is only using him. Bruno stays overnight at the De Medicis but next morning Lorenzo discovers that he has been used as an alibi whilst Bruno robs Mazzola, the scariest fence in Florence, who comes looking for recompense. Lorenzo's skills as a swordsman are put to the test as he forces Bruno, who has tried to frame Macchiavelli, to give back Mazzola's property.
- A pair of actors arrive in Florence to perform 'The Shepherd of Love',a play specially commissioned to mark Lorenzo's - reluctant - betrothal to Angelica and they recruit Lisa and Leonardo to star as young lovers. However the actors are really using the play as a diversion whilst they tunnel beneath the stage into the bank vault to steal the De Medici sapphire. Leonardo discovers this and uses his acting skills to bring the couple to justice.
- Hot-headed Rocco is keen to raise an army against Milan though De Medici dislikes the idea as it could expose him as the murderer. He persuades Leonardo to build a super-weapon,modelled on the hard shell of a tortoise,which will resist bullets and cannonballs. An early trial accidentally blows up a statue of the duke but Rocco is impressed by Leonardo's second attempt and De Medici plans to use it in his attempt on Rocco's life. Angelica realises that she is drawn to Macchiavelli and tells Lorenzo that she wants to call the wedding off but his father insists it go ahead.
- Swaggering Silvio Pirelli, the leading swordsman in Italy, comes to Florence and annoys Lisa with his bragging. As Tom she challenges him to a dual, despite being totally inexperienced, and starts to have second thoughts. However she goes through with it, though things are looking bad for her until Leonardo takes time off from designing the super-weapon to provide an explosive diversion which helps her to give Pirelli his come-uppance. Angelica tells Macchiavelli that, due to the arranged marriage, they can no longer meet but she does agree to keep Lisa's secret.
- As the wedding day draws closer for reluctant Lorenzo and Angelica Leonardo forms a plot to get them out of it. Posing as an elderly envoy for the king of Naples he claims that the king wants a suitable husband for his daughter Princess Eleanor and will offer a huge dowry. After Lisa has posed as Eleanor and Angelica's dowry has been conveniently 'stolen' De Medici tells Angelica's father the wedding is off but a relieved Lorenzo is pleased to be jilted when his princess bride fails to show and Angelica's indignant father has taken her back to Pisa.
- Leonardo has completed his super-weapon,which he hopes will be used as a deterrent to dissuade the Milanese from war. De Medici however intends to take it to war and kill Rocco. With war imminent all Milanese are considered undesirable aliens and Alberto,cousin to De Medici's right hand man Placidi,is charged with rounding them up. Leonardo helps Lucia and her grandmother Carla,accused of being Milanese spies,to escape Florence whilst implicating Alberto as a double agent. The mob get Alberto but Placidi escapes. De Medici,aware that he knows too much about the duke's murder,allows the mob to claim Placidi too but,as he lies at death's door,he is spotted by Leonardo. He decides to tell the young artist something important.
- The wounded Placidi tells Leonardo all the murderous things De Medici has done and Leonardo takes him back to the studio,where he hides him,confronting De Medici. Whilst Medici admits everything he is overheard by Rocco but Medici has bribed the guards to imprison Rocco,Macchiavelli and Leonardo,planning to kill Rocco and blame Macchiavelli and Leonardo,whom he will denounce as Milanese spies. Fortunately Lorenzo has been informed of the truth by Placidi and releases all three. They hurry to the city square to destroy the super-weapon,of which De Medici has taken charge and,thanks to Lisa,it is put out of action. However there will be a brace of duels and a hard decision for Lorenzo before Florence can celebrate peace.
- Salvatore Landucci approaches Leonardo and asks him to decipher a treasure map which will lead to the priceless artefact the silver dragon of Mesopotamia and to Salvatore's brother Adriano,who disappeared whilst searching for it. Too late Leonardo discovers he has been used as he and Adriano are left trapped underground whilst Salvatore escapes with the dragon. Fortunately Macchiavelli mistrusts Salvatore and has hatched a plan to rescue his friend. Meanwhile Piero De Medici,in his bid to be the ruler of the city,has his brother the duke killed.
- Having poisoned his brother De Medici claims he was killed by an arrow from a Milanese assassin and stirs up Florence to fight Milan,proclaiming himself leader and asking Leonardo to make a 'secret weapon' for the war. However Leonardo is preparing the duke's death mask and is suspicious to see traces of poison on the face. He persuades De Medici's doctor to perform a post mortem but De Medici arranges for the doctor to be killed in a supposed attempt on his own life. The weapon is a poisoned arrow,a method favoured by the Milanese - which convinces Leonardo that that was how the poison entered the duke's body.
- Lorenzo asks Macchiavelli to look after Angelica for the day and he sees her sympathetic side as she confides that,like Lorenzo,she is unhappy about a marriage which exists only to form an alliance with Pisa. They are captured by Gorgoni,a vengeful smuggler on whom Macchiavelli has informed,and rescued by Leonardo but Angelica is clearly charmed by Macchiavelli. Leonardo designs his father's wedding invitations using a borrowed baby to model as Cupid but is dismayed when he is denied an invite himself as the bride is unaware of his existence. De Medici prepares for his coronation as duke but is halted by the arrival of his nephew Rocco,who claims that he is the rightful heir.